Have you ever felt overwhelmed with a lot of things to do and still felt you were not doing enough? Sometimes, we think of getting ahead in our life compared to our present situation or have a huge list of things to get done in the back of our minds. Irrespective of what we do, it does not seem enough for us. Watching other people achieve their success might trigger feelings of inadequacy.
And setting unrealistic expectations can also induce the feeling that nothing can ever be good enough for yourself. There will always be room for improvement in our lives, but it feels like a constant competition where you continuously chase your next target. It is overwhelming to feel the necessity to do everything. When you start getting the feeling of not doing enough, it becomes even easier to overwhelm yourself. The feeling that you should or could do more only counts to more pressure on your shoulders.
In this blog, we will know how to deal with not doing enough and why this feeling comes up in our minds.
Why do we feel the feeling of not doing enough?
Pressure
Despite doing plenty of things, you always think there’s more you could or should do due to the societal pressure of being busy. This pressure can exhibit the expectations you set for yourself internally along with those in the outside world of work, relationships, and other aspects.
Set prominent boundaries and cut off things which cause extra stress in your life. Avoid putting actions which put additional pressure and weight on your to-do list.
Comparison
The second reason for the feeling of not doing enough is the game of comparison. People often feel they are not doing enough because they start comparing themselves to others. Whereas in the real world, whatever they see in the lives of people is a reel of their life’s highlights. This reel is just a curated version that they want to show. This is not bad on their part because they are creating and to create is an art. Therefore, we can see that making life look more interesting is an art.
Before comparing, you should always remember that the actual picture of someone else’s life is very translucent from above. You never know what hardships and struggles they face daily. You should be grateful for your life and thank God for it.
Perfectionism
The feeling of not doing good enough can come from the habit of perfectionism, even from the minor things in daily life. Sometimes, it is irrespective of the grand gestures you make at work. But there is always a feeling to do better than it has been done. This feeling pushes us forward to do something more meaningful and more impactful.
In these cases, we just have to take a step back and remember that every small step in life is a part of something bigger. Every tiny step we take contributes to the growth of achieving our life goals. Even the smallest actions in your life are meaningful. And sometimes, imperfections make things beautiful in a different way.
Things to do when you feel you’re not doing enough
Avoid creating a long to-do list. Focus on fewer things which can be completed without pressure.
While working on huge loads of work at a time, you may feel that you’re making healthy progress. Huge loads of work divide your attention and make it difficult to actually move ahead with your work. Proper progress moves forward with a dedicated focus.
Avoid getting overwhelmed and do fewer things to achieve extraordinary results. Do not overload yourself, thinking that there’s a lot you can do. This will deviate your focus and increase your pending work. Talk to yourself and design healthy progress to complete your work in the best possible way within the stipulated time.
It is not always necessary to do more than you’re asked to. Prioritise your necessary tasks and devote your attention to something that fits your goal in all aspects of your life.
Set boundaries and expectations which you can accomplish for yourself.
It is not necessary for you to accomplish everything. Set and dedicate a realistic amount of time and energy to accomplish different things in your life. Just remember what you do is already enough for yourself.
If you feel you have lost the competition with others, think of what you have already done in the previous years. Go through your transformation, and think about how much you’ve grown and changed yourself in the last five years.
Stop making comparisons with someone else in your life and set goals and expectations you are sure to achieve regardless of people’s thoughts and other situations.
Keep track of your time and see how you spend it.
At the end of the month, if you feel lost and doubt if you have done something worthy, think of what activities you do on a daily basis and at which time. Tracking your activities according to time for a week will make you realise which work takes a lot of time and which you can do easily. You will also understand the task which is more worthy and needs proper focus.
You should evaluate your time to check where you are putting all your efforts. This will make you realise you do more work than you think you can and that you spend unnecessary time on unworthy things.
Once you realise you have wasted your time in the wrong ways, you will be very mindful in organising your plans and schedule within particular time blocks based on your top priorities.
Conclusion
Start recalling the work in which you have constantly put your efforts. Do not put pressure and workload on yourself and try to relax. You will understand there’s nothing which you cannot achieve. Everything you are doing is adding up to something bigger in future.
We would like to know how this article helped you. Let us know in the comments below!
Also, if you’re facing this issue, you might be stressed. To know if you’re stressed, take this stress test.
